Socialists, Democrats Contest Albanian Election

March 22, 1992|Los Angeles Times

TIRANA, Albania -- Today`s parliamentary election in this poor and forgotten corner of Europe has boiled down to a simple test of what Albanians fear most: the once-omnipotent Socialists or more of the suffering that is the legacy of their 48-year rule.

Opposition politicians of the pro-Western Democratic Party are predicting victory, but they were equally confident a year ago, when Albania`s first multiparty election handed them a stunning defeat.

Yet much has happened to give voters pause to reconsider. The economy is in a shambles, and crime is epidemic. Unemployment is estimated at 60 percent, and paralyzed factories have left Albania`s 3.3 million people dependent on foreign food aid.

``Our motto is to give hope to the people, not concrete promises,`` said Genc Rulli, the Democrats` chief economic strategist and a candidate in Tirana, the capital. ``People have naive ideas about what will happen after the election. Those with high expectations may be disappointed.``

How Albania weathers its bleak immediate future depends on the generosity of developed Western countries. Some, such as the United States, have hinted that they will help only if Albania ends Communist rule.

That message is said to have provided a great boost for the opposition. But in a backward country scarred by four decades of isolation and despotism, allegiance to the Socialist Party may prove stronger than rivals imagine.

Two-thirds of Albanian voters live in the remote and mountainous countryside -- where the Socialists have been entrenched for decades.

Socialist monopolies on the media and transportation have been broken since last year`s election, but the balance of campaigning power still favors the ruling party. The entire Democratic Party, with candidates in 100 districts, has only six vehicles.

Albania`s president for the past seven years, former Communist Ramiz Alia, has lately embraced democratic reform and remains popular in the southern power base of his dictatorial predecessor and mentor, Enver Hoxha.